Study: Radical Muslims are well-integrated, are better educated than average, and are better economically and socially

Copenhagen, Denmark

It has been thought that failed integration and poverty may be causes of “Homegrown Radical Islamists” in Western countries. A study “Radical Islamism and Migrant Integration in Denmark: An Empirical Inquiry” does not support a link between integration and radicalization of young Muslims, or poverty.

Associate professor and Islamism researcher Marco Goli from Metropolitan University College in Copenhagen concluded “that radicalized young Muslims are often what one would consider well-integrated: They are better educated than average and also perform better economically and socially and will therefore largely be able to maintain a double life.”

The study stated: “The sharpest and most consistent difference between the Radical Islamists and other Muslim immigrants concerned their adherence to religious duties and proscriptions. More than half of the most radical group deferred to Sharia over National law, and a third endorsed death as punishment for apostasy.”

“They become radicalized from their own perception of what happens around the world,” says Shahamak Rezaei, Associatev Professor at the Institute of Social and Globalisation Affairs at Roskilde University.”

The study was based on a nationally representative sample of 1,113 youth (ages 15–30) in Denmark with national ties to a”Muslim country.